Sat in a cafe

I am sat in a cafe and in the last ten minutes I have seen:

• a police car with 2 adults and perhaps 8 kids in in, none wearing seatbelts
• A child on a motorbike carrying a 4 foot x 4 foot clothes hanging rail
• A motorbike with three people on it, one of them holding a saline drip bag high up on a bamboo pole.
• Two people on a motorbike carrying a bicycle
• A family of five on a moto

Back from hols

I have just said goodbye to Georgie at the airport after a fantastic 2 week holiday that went in a flash. We did everything you should do on a holiday in Cambodia; saw the incredible Angkor Wat (and other temples), ate shellfish in a shack on the beach in Sihanoukville, ran away from French crystal meth freaks trying to get us to drink some bottle of booze with snakes and scorpions pickled in it, got sick (me and Georgie), got sun burned, ate too much, drank too much, sploshed about in the gulf of Thailand, lounged around in the hotel, explored the rural villages in a tuk tuk, got rained on (RAINED on), felt bad about the poverty, drank champagne back at the hotel...

The bus back from Sihanoukville that apparently takes "a few hours" took us seven and a half hours due to flooding across Phnom Penh. For one hour we traveled about 100m. The road, pavement and every bit of space exploded into a mass of motos, everyone scrambling to find a bit of space to squeeze their way out of the city. You cannot imagine the filth of a flooded Phnom Penh.

Next week I am back off to Sihanoukville for our management retreat.

I... don't.. even... know...

Update : Oh, I just got it. Sewer meaning someone who sews!

It's good to know exactly what you want

Impending electric shock

I am waiting with some level of trepidation my first electricity bill. Electric power has only become widespread again in Phnom Penh in the last decade, so I am told, and it's still very dear. My friends paid $100 for electricity in a one bed flat last month...

I have seen the power station. It has about 5 massive exhausts burning... wait for it... diesel . That's why it's so expensive, the whole of Phnom Penh is powered by a massive generator...

*****UPDATE*****

Well, it came... $127 for one month. For what is basically a bed sit! That's the price of aircon and running a fridge freezer in my sheltered outdoor kitchen...

Changes have been made to this post in the spirit of peace and love! Long live the Freebird!

Today is the first day I have walked too and from work, risking life and limb trying to navigate the roads. I'm pretty pleased to report that it was uneventful in terms of major injuries or high excitement mishaps. I did see a stray dog almost get squished.

On Friday I went to the second birthday party of SE Asia Globe magazine. With free food (full scale western BBQ) and free booze in a funky little hotel garden, it was a great way to end a great week. I think I met most of Phnom Penh's movers and shakers. And they met me, which I am sure they are writing about on their blogs right now.

As I write I am sat in one of Phnom Penh's squillions of expat bars. This one is the Freebird. There's a sign on the wall saying "Explosives, when used properly can be a wonderful source of entertainment". I can believe it. I'm here to have the Freebird burger - half a pound of minced beef with bacon and "elemental" cheese. There's only so much rice one can eat, my dear Watson.

Today I got verbal agreement from a client on my first deal at work.The first of many to come, I am sure. The GM did the half joke / half serious "Why don't you stay on here for a year or so...". I'm flattered, but... no...

My love/hate relationship with Phnom Penh continues... right now I love it. Yesterday I hated it... (though was cheered u by the purchase of DVDs of every Royle Family episode ever, every Fawlty Towers episode ever and seven films for $27, about £18). "What did you see when you were in Cambodia, Ed?", "Oh, everything, the Royle Family, Fawlty Towers..."

Thanks for bearing with my stream of consciousness.

Yoghurt make man go crazy

It's never a nice feeling to have one's idiocy revealed. That feeling of humiliation as you realise just how stupid you've been. I experienced it today when I told my colleague that I have mango with yogurt and oats for breakfast. Hysterical laughing and head shaking ensued, punctuated with "You put mango... ha ha ha... mango... ha ha... with yoghurt?....ha ha ha!" How could I have been so stupid?

My decision-making proces

I had to create a flowchart for something at work and while Googling some example flowcharts I came up with this one that nicely sums up my own decision-making process, including my decision to pack in a secure, well paid job in a recession to go and live in Cambodia.



























Source : www.pootergeek.com/2006/12/the-logic-of-my-life/